Author: chicagoinquirer

by Mark Sherman WASHINGTON  — The Supreme Court is to meet in private Friday with a high-profile issue on its agenda — President Donald Trump ’s birthright citizenship order declaring that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens. The justices could say as soon as Monday whether they will hear Trump’s appeal of lower court rulings that have uniformly struck down the citizenship restrictions. They have not taken effect anywhere in the United States. If the court steps in now, the case would be argued in the spring, with a…

by Calvin Woodward WASHINGTON  — They gathered at the Washington National Cathedral on Thursday — former presidents, vice presidents, sworn political foes and newfound friends — in a show of respect and remembrance for Dick Cheney, the consequential and polarizing vice president who became an acidic scold of President Donald Trump. Trump, who has been publicly silent about Cheney’s death Nov. 3, was not invited to the memorial service. Two ex-presidents came: Republican George W. Bush, who eulogized the man who served him as vice president, and Democrat Joe Biden, who once called Cheney “the most dangerous vice president we’ve…

by Paul Wiseman WASHINGTON  — U.S. employers added a surprisingly solid 119,000 jobs in September, the government said, issuing a key economic report that had been delayed for seven weeks by the federal government shutdown. The increase in payrolls was more than double the 50,000 economists had forecast. Yet there were some troubling details in the delayed report. Labor Department revisions showed that the economy lost 4,000 jobs in August instead of gaining 22,000 as originally reported. Altogether, revisions shaved 33,000 jobs off July and August payrolls. The economy had also shed jobs in June, the first time since the…

by Gene Chamberlain LAKE FOREST, Ill.  — Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams grew up idolizing Aaron Rodgers. Now he might get the chance to compete against him when the Pittsburgh Steelers visit Soldier Field on Sunday. With his completion percentage dipping below 60% and his passer rating below 90, no one would confuse the way Williams is playing in his second year with Rodgers’ illustrious career — not even Bears coach Ben Johnson. “Probably not right now,” Johnson said Wednesday. “I think (Rodgers) is elite right now at getting the ball out of his hands. If he doesn’t have the…

PORTLAND, Ore.  — Nikola Vucevic hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer and Chicago Bulls held off a furious comeback attempt by the Portland Trail Blazers for a 122-121 victory on Wednesday night. Vucevic finished with 27 points and Coby White had 25 off the bench for the Bulls, who led by 21 points in the fourth quarter. Deni Avdija’s 3-pointer tied it for the Blazers at 116 and Donovan Clingan’s layup put the Blazers in front with 47 seconds left. Clingan added a free throw to cap a 31-7 run and give Portland a 119-116 lead. White’s 3-pointer with 9.1…

by Dyepkazah Shabiyan and Ope Adetayo ABUJA, NIGERIA  — A court in Nigeria on Thursday convicted separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu of all seven terrorism-related charges brought against him and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Kanu founded the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which has been accused of terrorism and extra-judicial killings in the country’s southeastern region where it has called for the creation of an independent state. The charges against Kanu, who has rejected the court’s authority, included carrying out acts of terrorism, issuing and violently enforcing stay-at-home orders that bring the southeastern region to a halt every Monday, giving…

by Seung Min Kim WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed legislation Wednesday that compels his administration to release files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, bowing to political pressure from his own party after initially resisting those efforts. Trump could have chosen to release many of the files on his own months ago. “Democrats have used the ‘Epstein’ issue, which affects them far more than the Republican Party, in order to try and distract from our AMAZING Victories,” Trump said in a social media post as he announced he had signed the bill. Now, the bill requires the Justice…

by Kimberlee Kruesi and Holly Ramer Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers abruptly went on leave Wednesday from teaching at Harvard University, where he once served as president, over recently released emails showing he maintained a friendly relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, Summers’ spokesperson said. Summers had been retreating from his public commitments amid the fallout of the emails revelation, but he had maintained that he would continue teaching economics classes at Harvard. Yet by Wednesday evening, Summers had not only retreated from his teaching classes but also as director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government with the Kennedy…

by Margery A. Beck Federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged a man with committing a terrorist attack, alleging he poured gasoline on a woman and chased her through a Chicago train car before setting her on fire. Lawrence Reed was sitting at the back of a car on a Blue Line L train on Monday night when he approached the woman as she sat with her back to him and doused her with gasoline that was in a plastic beverage bottle, according to a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrest affidavit. The 26-year-old woman fought off the man as…

by Tunde Omolehin and Dyepkaah Shibayan SOKOTO, Nigeria  — Nigeria’s president postponed his trip to this weekend’s Group of 20 summit after promising to intensify efforts to rescue 24 schoolgirls who were abducted by gunmen earlier this week in a northwestern region of the country. Civil society leaders have accused security forces of inaction. President Bola Tinubu had been set to leave for South Africa on Wednesday, days before the summit of the world’s leading rich and developing nations was due to begin. But Tinubu said that he was suspending his departure in light of the abductions and a separate…